Locking up

I mentioned already that we didn't get a key, like we thought we might.  In addition to that, only one of the 2 door's locks actually functioned.  We did all of our coming and going through the "hotel room" during our visit. 
Let me back up, before I get ahead of myself and describe the layout of this place better.  It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo.  It's separated into a "lock-out" hotel room and a one bedroom condo, so there are 2 doors to get into the unit and the door from the hotel bedroom to the living room has a locking mechanism on both sides.  Each bedroom and the living room also have sliding glass doors onto balconies overlooking the lake.
There are a dozen things to think about with regard to locking up.  How would we like the keys to be configured?  Will we ever intend to use the lock-out feature?  Are we going to be renting it out, or selling it?  If we plan to sell it off, what would the potential buyers want in the lock situation?  In addition to the exterior doors, there are a few places that can get locked for storing personal items while renting the place out (if we got that route).  We, of course, don't have keys for those locks either.
The existing hardware on the doors is ugly.  It used to be brass, but it's all worn/faded/scuffed and mostly looks junky. See for yourselves.

Before: no key and doesn't really work.

Before including kickplate

Progress - now we have a working lock and we hold the key!

We took measurements for the reinforcement plate and kickplate so we can  look to buy replacements or figure out what we need to do with them otherwise.  The local hardware store didn't have anything that resembled these.

We got the only "reasonably attractive" keyed door handle set that the local hardware store (town of 300) had in stock of which we could get a matching pair.  Having looked since we got home, we would have made the same style choice if we were faced with more choices during the moment.
Brian was able to install the first door handle fairly easily.  The second one was broken beyond repair and removal.  Next trip North, we need to bring a hack saw and use the brute force method to get the second old knob off so we can put in the second classy handle.
Ah, so many plans and so long before we get to go again!

Design Dilemma

You know us, can't have too many things going on at one time!  We've been talking for quite some time about doing something with our living room.  We purchased our furniture 12 years ago when we lived in a house built in 1999.  Then we moved to a house built in 1890.  The furniture didn't fit.  Okay, we did fit it all in the room, but it took up a lot of space and just didn't work.  We just continued to live with it because there were plenty of other more pressing issues to take on.  

Here's the room after we took out a few of the tables and added the rug (oops, that's not the rug, that's a throw blanket posing as a rug to see if we like it).

We posted the furniture on craigslist this weekend (along with a bunch of random things that we removed from up north).  We've put it on craigslist twice previously and not had a single looker.  This time I listed each of the pieces separately and had inquiries right way.  We decided to clear out the room and start with a blank slate.  The objectives we decided upon are: make it feel like a bigger space with similar amount of seating; pick a style that we like (we've discovered a lot about our style preferences in 12 years and "traditional" is not it); don't spend too much - aka we aren't shopping at pottery barn or west elm, even though they have great stylish stuff.
Brian has a tendency to pick out mid-century modern, while I'm likely to land on farmhouse.  Neither of those is entirely appropriate here.  We're working toward "loft" or "European modern" since we have the old structure, but are not into antique stuff.  We went to HomeGoods and Pier1 last night and I was able to put it all together in my head.  If I was a pintrest person, I'd pin you a bunch of images; if I was a photoshop person, I'd create a mood board.  I'm not, so you'll just have to stay tuned for during and after pictures.  We'll paint and replace the ceiling fans to complete the look at some point.  For now, I'm excited to get my furnishing and accessorizing on!  And, I'm thrilled that we've found a style that works for both of us!

Hiking LeVeaux

Fall is such a beautiful time to hike in the woods.  We usually try to get up to the shore/hiking trails in mid to late September (at least ever since I quit teaching that's true, when I was teaching, we would go in mid October at break).  We were there on the late side of the "colors" season this year, but it was still spectacularly beautiful!

Trailhead.



Noah the leader.  He usually wants to "be the train engine" when hiking.

 

On top of the mountian



Fantastic vistas even though all the leaves are down.  Can you imagine if the branches were yellow and red?!



Sometimes 4 year olds need to stop hiking and roll around in the grassy area next to the trail.



Somebody tired out a bit, good thing dad is strong and patient!



 A bit of advice for hiking with pre-schoolers...  Bring "enticement" junk food.  We forgot that on this hike and found ourselves struggling to coax him along the trail a couple of times.  Combine the snacks with a bit of a scavenger hunt - find/count 4 trail markers then you can have a ________.  Scavenger hunting is great even without the food.  Hunt for trail markers and try to be the first one to spot each.  Noah's a pro at finding and calling out the "blue stripes".  A few other trail games we play is train - who is the engine, who is the coal car, who is the caboose?  This works well on easier sections where it makes the most sense to walk single file.  A new one we invented this time is hide and seek - one member of the party races ahead a little ways and hides behind a tree, then the rest of the hikers have to find them.  Dad finds the best hiding spots and we'll miss him if we don't employ our best observation skills, cause you know he didn't go too far and is just off the trail somewhere! 

In addition to motivators along the trail, it's important to be comfortably dressed.  You can't usually find (or don't want to afford) hi-tech hiking gear for people who will grow out of it within just one season.  So using layers and carrying back-up options is very important - more on that here.

More Lake Superior talk

It can't be all work and no play when we go up to the new place on Lake Superior.  Here's some talk about what we did at the property for fun.





Do you see that pile of firewood?  We burned every single piece in the box over the weekend!  Also, there's a big puzzle in the cabinet (550 pieces).  Noah pulled it out and wanted to do it, it was a little advanced for him, but I was able to sit back and complete the picture over the weekend.




I think this rock beach is Noah's favorite feature of the "hotel home" that we've got.  He could throw rocks for hours if we let him!




Another favorite of Noah's is "exploring" on the big rocks.  He was quick to learn that the rule for walking on the big rocks is he must hold hands with mom or dad!




I couldn't get over the fall colors of the lichen on the big rocks!  It was intense and beautiful.



We heard the waves crashing against these rocks all the way inside.  Can't wait until the lake gets really moody in November!

One thing I was delighted by was that they had left behind "soap dishes" on the counters.  They have semi-bowl-shaped hunks of rock serving as a soap dish by two of the sinks.  Brian thought it was just asking to look messy and leave the soap/water pooling all over the counter.  I thought it brought a little outside in and helped tie the shore to the living space.  Not sure how that debate will end.  What do you think: charming or sloppy??

For the children

When I go around town and see all those hateful orange signs that say to vote no for "choice" it makes me feel sick.  I want Noah to grow up in a place where the definition of mom, dad, husband, and wife are understandable and he will have the option of creating a "traditional" family because 1) it will still exist legally, and 2) there will be girls who were raised with similar values.  We can still show loving kindness to those who choose differently, but we don't have to promote it in our education systems and allow judges and legislators to make all kinds of rules about how we raise our children.